1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to equipment for producing a liquid beverage which may be in the form of a consumable liquid beverage or a liquid beverage concentrate to which a diluent, such as water, must be added to form a consumable beverage. The equipment includes a container for liquid and an insertable and removable receptacle or basket receiving a quantity of flavor imparting material with the receptacle or basket being constructed in a manner to retain the flavor imparting material therein but to enable direct contact between the liquid and the flavor imparting material so that the flavor will be transferred to the liquid. The container includes perforated discharge tubes along the top of the receptacle or basket to discharge liquid directly onto the upper surface of the material in the basket. The container is communicated with a source of liquid such as a hot water heater and includes a drain including a pump by which the liquid beverage or beverage concentrate formed in the container can be recirculated through the container if desired. The time of contact between the liquid in the container and the flavor imparting material in the receptacle or basket may be varied depending upon the desired characteristics of the liquid beverage or beverage concentrate produced by the equipment.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
Various types of beverage infusion devices are well known such as coffee making devices in which hot water is discharge onto the upper surface of a quantity of ground coffee and passes through the ground coffee and through a paper filter for discharge into a receptacle for use. Such devices do not provide any control for the characteristics of the beverage formed other than by varying the ratio of the coffee grounds to the quantity of hot water passed therethrough. While such devices have received considerable consumer acceptance, they require that a supply of paper filters be maintained and also the time of contact between the hot water and ground coffee is extremely limited so that a substantial quantity of ground coffee does not impart flavor characteristics to the brewed coffee. Also, teabags for individual servings of tea are conventionally employed and teapots in which tea leaves are placed along with hot water for steeping is a well known procedure but this procedure usually requires some type of strainer to remove the tea leaves from the consumable beverage.